I heard Canon is releasing a new and improved successor to the A1 in September but did not hear any other details. Can anyone verify if this is true or not? If it is, please tell me the model number so I can look it up. Thanks!

There was a time when we simply canned unsubstantiated rumors like this... but now we just move 'em to Area 51. An unwillingness to properly identify the source should put up a huge red flag, because sadly there's just no legitimacy in "I heard" unless you can say specifically who you heard it from.

Sorry, I didn't think this post was gonna stir up trouble. An editor friend of mine (not a camera guy) told me about this rumor but couldn't remember anything helpful, like the model number or where he heard it... Anyway, I figured you guys are more "in the know" than I am and might have heard something if it was true. The only other thing my buddy said was that it was supposed to be about the same price as the XH-A1 but be a "better" camera. I'm just trying to plan/budget ahead is all, plus another buddy of mine was thinking about buying an A1 this month, but if there's going to be a successor model out real soon, along with a commensurate A1 price drop... well, it makes sense for him to wait unless it won't be out for awhile.

For the record, I own an A1 and definitely recommend it. Best camera in its price range, hands down, IMO. No significant problems in the year and a half or so I've owned mine. The only nagging complaint I have is it has no snap zoom capability, so I have to fake those in post whenever I need one.

Well if your "rumor" is right, I hope you're right asap before I make my purchase. Otherwise, I hope you're "wrong" for a long time.

btw - as someone very new to DV, could you comment a little on the Snap Zoom? Hopefully it's ok to take this thread a little off topic since it's in the Area 51 zone.

The other reason I was hoping for something better was because using an XH-A1 with an external hard drive isn't easy right? The Firestores I believe they are called. I do a lot of recording of stand up comedy around the DC area with my Sony HC1 and since I'm stationary and recording from one camera, it would be real easy to immediately feed footage to a hard drive. I record in HD to the tape but 99% of the time give my customers their final product in SD and would love to be able to speed up this process.

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Current Audio Equipment: two AT822 mics, Sony MZ-RH1, and KE-110CCR. What else should I get for short films and recording stand-up comedy? http://is.gd/kePy

What's to say? Unfortunately, the A1 is utterly incapable of performing a snap zoom, which I love to whip out every once in awhile for dramatic effect. I can fake them in post if necessary, but there is always a resolution loss because I have to zoom in--so it doesn't pay to dwell on the shot long enough for the audience to notice the picture quality degradation.

I'm still running old skool with nothing but tapes. I thought about getting a Firestore back when I bought my A1, but they are friggin' expensive and I hear they aren't that great, although I don't remember why (research it on this forum as I did back in the day). I couldn't justify the expense with my budget at that time anyway--although if I had, I would never trust the Firestore completely; I would still record everything on tape just to be 100% safe. I'm paranoid that way--I figure it's way cheaper in the long run to "waste" a blank tape on a redundant recording than to find out the Firestore screwed up and now I have no footage at all. Plus, the FS and/or my HD would need to get periodically cleaned out to conserve disk space, and I might need that raw footage again someday. Better safe than sorry, I say!

Actually, I kind of hope the rumor is wrong, too, because then I won't be tempted to ditch my A1 and upgrade. But the shockingly fast way Canon upgraded the HV line makes me wonder if the A1 might not be getting ready to be discontinued. I guess we'll find out in a few weeks after the next big electronics expo. If nothing new is announced by then, I'd go ahead and buy the A1 if I were you. It's a great camera.